Geodia neptuni ( Sollas, 1886 )

Ugalde, Diana, Fernandez, Julio C. C., Gómez, Patricia, Lôbo-Hajdu, Gisele & Simões, Nuno, 2021, An update on the diversity of marine sponges in the southern Gulf of Mexico coral reefs, Zootaxa 5031 (1), pp. 1-112 : 76-77

Geodia neptuni ( Sollas, 1886)

Tables 6, 7; Figs. 69A–D , 70N

Synonymy: Synops neptuni Sollas (1886: 198) , Sollas (1888: 227), Hajdu et al. (2011: 70), Muricy et al. (2011: 48); Geodia (Sidonops) neptuni Lehnert (1993: 64) Gómez (2007: 53) and Geodia vosmaeri , Sidonops neptuni and Synops vosmaeri : see references compiled in Muricy et al. (2011: 48); Geodia neptuni: Gómez (2002: 69) .

Type locality. Brazil, Off Alagoas State .

Material examined. CNPGG-2439, Cabezo reef (19.05086°N, 95.82388°W), 9.3 m depth, coll. Diana Ugalde, 30 August 2018.

Distribution. Mexico ( Gómez 2002, 2007, 2011; current records), Bahamas ( Wiedenmayer 1977), Cuba ( Alcolado 2002), other countries in Caribbean Sea, and Brazil ( Muricy et al. 2011).

Remarks. Similarly to other species of Geodia , G. neptuni has also been analyzed integratively, but unlike G. gibberosa (cited above), G. neptuni is established as monophyletic in a well supported clade with 90% bootstrap ( Cárdenas et al. 2011; Figure 2 ). An interesting case in G. neptuni is the geographic relationship found, where specimens from the Bahamas are more closely related to specimens from the farther away Belize than to the geographically closer ones from Florida. However, similar morphological characteristics can be observed in the literature among specimens of G. neptuni from the Caribbean and Brazilian regions (e.g. Sollas 1888; Lehnert 1993); viz., cup or vaseform shape and grooved surface. Our material has a similar habit and shape similar to Caribbean specimens.

Geodia neptuni has been reported from the northern (de Laubenfels 1936) and the SGoM ( Gómez 2002, 2007, 2011), where it is a common species in coral reefs.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Agelas clathrodes (Schmidt, 1870) (CNPGG-2297), skeleton and spicules:A. transversal section of the skeleton; B. detail of the ectosomal region, upper side; C. verticillated acanthostyles. Scale bars: A = 500 µm; B = 100 µm; C = 50 µm.

FIGURE 69. Geodia neptuni (Sollas, 1886) (CNPGG-2439), skeleton and spicules: A. transversal section of the skeleton; B. detail of the ectosomal and choanosomal regions; C. oxeas, plagiotriaenes, and microscleres (sterrasters), arrows pointing to a styloid form of oxea; D. oxyaster and spheroxyasters. Scale bars: A–B = 500 µm; C = 250 µm; D = 20 µm.

FIGURE 70. In situ photographs of species analyzed in the present study: A. Svenzea tubulosa (Alcolado & Gotera, 1986), B. Svenzea zeai (Alvarez, van Soest & Rützler, 1998) (CNPGG-2284); C. Hymeniacidon caerulea Pulitzer-Finali, 1986 (CNPGG- 2425); D. Topsentia ophiraphidites (de Laubenfels, 1934) (CNPGG-2185); E. Topsentia ophiraphidites (de Laubenfels, 1934) (CNPGG-2262); F. Topsentia ophiraphidites (de Laubenfels, 1934) (CNPGG-2415); G. Tectitethya crypta de Laubenfels, 1949 (CNPGG-2176); H. Tectitethya macrostella Sarà & Bavestrello, 1996 (CNPGG-2277); I. Tethya diploderma Schmidt, 1870 (CNPGG-2191); J. Timea stenosclera Hechtel, 1969 (CNPGG-2275); K. Timea stenosclera Hechtel, 1969 (CNPGG-2358), surface detail zoomed in (arrow indicates a specimen of Chalinula aff. molitba); L. Stellettinopsis megastylifera (Wintermann- Kilian & Kilian, 1984) (CNPGG-2446); M. Geodia gibberosa Lamarck, 1815 (CNPGG-2291); N. Geodia neptuni (Sollas, 1886) (CNPGG-2439). Scale bars, A–N = 1 cm.